Glory Kid Ltd. has been such a label for a very long time. With an ever increasing (and diversifying) catalog of quality releases the man behind it all, Andrew Gomez (Burn Your Life Down/Time For Change) has put himself into the things he has released- this new 12inch (split release with the equally great Adagio Records) is no exception.
While I can't say that the cover artwork does a whole lot for me, it definitely catches ones attention and it doesn't stop me from looking further at the record. The music contained within though is something to stop you dead, catching you flat on your feet and unprepared. Both bands have been honing their sound for some time now, and on this record, come screaming through.
The first 5(6) songs come from Black Kites- having heard previous records of theirs, they always struck me as good, but the kind of band I really had to be in a mood for. On this record their brand of chaotic and volatile hardcore noise comes through in a way that sets them apart from the masses of noisy and screamy. With opening track Sleep Easy/Tall Tales Low Lives, the band shows that they can get right down to things and play some heavy riffs with a start and stop that gives way to just the slightest moments of a groove- conjuring a moment or two of great 90's hardcore, before going right back into what they do best. Personally, I think "Own Monster" is my favorite Black Kites track on the record. As usual with them, it beats you against the wall repeatedly with the screaming and bashing (vocally and musically) before taking a bit of a pause in the middle and showing off some very well done spoken talky-scream vocals that sound just so damned good.
Convulsions take off with the next 6 songs, starting with a cover of Karate. What a surprising cover, that will hopefully expose a new batch of people to this long gone 90's/early 00's band. The band stays very true to the original, just with a hardcore sound as opposed to indie sound of the original. Really a great cover for being able to stay with the original, but have it sound very unique. The band continues forward with five new tracks that build off of their 2010 Glory Kid release, "the Reaper's Gift." Convulsions is a heavy sounding band, but one unafraid to set itself away from the pack of both the heavy and the fast. Showing equal parts of bands like Deadguy and 108, Convulsions will sing, whistle, and beat the living shit out of you, all the while showing that they draw just as much from hardcore as they do many other genres of heavy and fast music (as well as some good post-whatever-you-want-to-call-it). Scrimshaw is proving itself to be my favorite track thus far- its fast and heavy, to the point, but not without its bits of grooving musical destruction. The record ends just as strong as it started (maybe even stronger) with Convulsions' Inhabitants of 13 Mall Street; seeming to cram every bit of what they are capable of into 4 minutes of sonic documentation. The drum solo in the middle that gives way to some ugly fucking sounding, 90's grunge influenced hardcore (and we all know grunge was really just 90's punk).
The newest Glory Kid Sampler is available at the Glory Kid Ltd. Bandcamp, free download of course- it features 2 tracks from this release as well as tracks from other current and upcoming releases on the label (inc. another Convulsions track from their previous EP).
DOWNLOAD HERE
PURCHASE HERE
Previous Glory Kid Ltd. Sampler Posted HERE
Other GKL related posts (inc. the one off band, Agosto Espias) HERE
